1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to an apparatus for detecting electromagnetic waves and, particularly, to a carbon nanotube based apparatus for detecting electromagnetic waves.
2. Description of Related Art
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a novel carbonaceous material having an extremely small size and an extremely large specific surface area. Carbon nanotubes have received a great deal of interest since the early 1990s, because they have interesting and potentially useful electrical and mechanical properties, and have been widely used in many fields. A disordered carbon nanotube film based apparatus for detecting electromagnetic waves is disclosed in “Bolometric infrared photoresponse of suspended single-walled carbon nanotube films,” Science, Mikhail E. Itkis et al., vol. 312, P412 (2006). The carbon nanotubes can uniformly absorb electromagnetic waves having different wavelengths. When the disordered carbon nanotube film is irradiated by electromagnetic waves having different wavelengths, the resistance of the disordered carbon nanotube film changes. Thus, the intensity of the incident electromagnetic waves can be detected by detecting the resistance of the irradiated disordered carbon nanotube film.
However, the above apparatus can only detect the intensity of electromagnetic waves, and not the polarizing direction thereof.